From the article:
Researchers at Ohio State University found that all the male mice that lived with a female partner survived seven days after a stroke, but only 40 percent of socially isolated animals lived that long.
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The amount of tissue damage in the brain was about four times larger in the mice housed alone compared to those housed with another mouse.
“The number of neurons dying is significantly decreased in the pair-housed mice,” DeVries said.
In addition, socially housed mice had significantly less edema, or excess water in the brain, when compared to the isolated animals.
“In clinical stroke, edema is a major concern because it can lead to additional neuronal damage, so it is significant that pair housing reduced edema,” Karelina said.
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In addition, findings revealed that mice that lived with others had significantly higher levels of a cytokine in their brain called interleukin-6 (IL-6) that has an anti-inflammatory response in the brain, helping to limit damage caused by the stroke.
The finding about IL-6 is especially interesting, Karelina said, because IL-6 appears to have opposite effects in the brain than it does in the rest of the body.
“IL-6 reduces inflammation in the brain, so it is protective in a stroke, but it is a pro-inflammatory in the periphery of the body,” Karelina said.